


History

by Trillian_Astra



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Fray
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-23
Updated: 2010-06-23
Packaged: 2017-10-10 06:06:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/96433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trillian_Astra/pseuds/Trillian_Astra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two Slayers and a slayer-that-might-be meet in dreams, and find strength in each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	History

They meet in dreams, in a place outside of time and space.

(It doesn't always look the same. A cosy living room. A dingy alleyway. The cargo hold of a ship.)

It was River who brought them together, when _they_ were playing with her brain and her mind tried to hide in itself, in memories, in dreams. When she met Buffy, the blonde Slayer had nodded thoughtfully and gone with the flow.

_"No worries", she told River when the younger girl wondered why she was so calm. "I've seen way weirder stuff."_

Fray was not so accepting. She fought against the shared dreams, tooth and nail. Screaming to be left alone in her own head. (_Screaming to be left alone, period_). River worried about her, fretting because she did not know how to help. It was Buffy who fixed the problem, telling Fray to suck it up and act like the Slayer she was, not some whiny kid.

River likes her dreamplace, her safe haven. She feels close to Buffy and to Fray – not just in the sense of friendship, but in a deeper way. She mentions it to them. Fray shrugs, calls her crazy, glowers at her. Buffy has an idea. She tells River about the Slayers, and about potential. She recounts the story of the First Slayer. River listens eagerly. Fray listens, but pretends she isn't.

Buffy thinks that River is a Slayer – or would be, if there were Slayers in her time. None of them know for sure. Buffy lives too far in her past. Fray knows only her own world, and River has never seen a vampire or a demon. Her evils are strictly of the human variety.

River tells them about the Academy, about _them_, about the experiments. That brings Fray out of her sulk – she springs to her feet in the dreamplace, reaches for a weapon that isn't there, offers to kill them for her. Buffy reminds her that she can't get to them, and tells her to chill. She tells River to be strong. Tells her that she shouldn't be afraid. She's stronger than other people. Faster, with better reflexes.

(They help her as she plans her way out, listening to ideas and making suggestions.)

She hopes that her brother is coming for her, that he understood the code she sent him. Fray snorts at the mention of River's brother. Fray has issues with her own brother, that she won't talk about.

Buffy smiles faintly. Reassures River that everything will work out.

_"But how do you know?" River asks._

"Nothing ever changes, not really," Buffy says with a sigh. "It's all just one thing after another. I deal with pretty horrific stuff every day, so does Fray. So do you. Despite all the monsters and the freaks trying to end the world, there's still a future, with people in it, and stuff still happens."

Live for the future, that's what Buffy tells her. Live for the future, because there will always be one. That, River knows, will never change, no matter what happens.


End file.
